Needed: Greenway Champion

Update: Please read this page before emailing me about this article.

Are you a big fan of Raleigh’s awesome greenway system? Great – I need your help.

At the November 19th meeting of the Parks and Recreation Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB), a section of greenway in North Raleigh will be discussed. This section (the Honeycutt Creek Greenway) will eventually connect from Falls Lake to Shelley Lake. Read a bit about it on my Get To Know A Park blog. It’s going to be a great addition to the greenway system. The problem is that there’s a small but vocal group that’s raising a lot of fuss about the greenway passing through their neighborhood. Their arguments are along the lines of “putting this greenway through my neighborhood will lower my property value and bring in a lot of creepy people that I don’t want peeing in my front yard.”

Here’s where you can help: I need a couple of well-spoken greenway advocates to appear at the PRGAB meeting and speak out in favor of greenways in general and this stretch in the specific. This is an emotional group – you’ll need to be level headed and armed with facts.

Some things that might be helpful to know:

  • Greenways do not increase the crime rate in an area
  • Greenways don’t lower property values (they often increase it)
  • In Raleigh, Greenways aren’t paid for at the cost of education or jobs – they’re funded from an entirely separate source (bonds that we voted in support of in 2003 and 2007)

(check out my blog post for some supporting documentation.)

The perfect candidate for this assignment:

  • is an active user of the greenways
  • has children/family members that use the greenways
  • can maintain their sanity despite any level of crazy thrown at them
  • is not a knife-wielding, yard-peeing, toy-stealing thug
  • ideally lives in North Raleigh (extra points if you live in near Strickland Road between Six Forks and Falls of the Neuse)

Know anyone that fits this description? I’m not looking to pack the house – I’m hoping to find a couple people that can stand up at the meeting and speak out in defense of this project. The meeting is going to be held at the Jaycee park module at 2401 Wade Avenue at 5:30pm on November 19th. If you can help out, please let me know. If not, please consider sharing this with your friends, family, cycling club, civic group etc.

Thanks for helping!